Posts

[cajobportal Insights] Hope | Luck | Fear

When James Cameron started filming Avatar, he had T-shirts made for the film crew with the words “hope is not a strategy, luck is not a factor, and fear is not an option”.

The 10-day Hindu festival of Ganesh Chaturthi that celebrates the rebirth of Lord Ganesha, commenced yesterday. He is the iconic deity who brings good luck and removes all obstacles in our path. So essentially the basic human desire in the “quid pro quo” relationship with God is that for all the puja that we do, we will in return get a super booster of luck

However when one were to explore the role of luck in success, contradictory views emerge?

One school of thought opines that luck is nothing but an alibi for unsuccessful people

When 14-year-old computer science nerd – Jack Dorsey goes on to become a serial entrepreneur, the co-founder and CEO of Twitter and Square, is it luck?

3M that consistently innovates, develops simple but iconic products like post-it notes; is it luck?

The other view is however that luck matters really a lot

The INR 15,800 crores Sugal & Damani (S&D), one of the largest players in the lottery business in India, clocks 15 million transactions per day.

Yes, that’s right – 15 million times a day when someone in India tries his/her luck

In UK alone, around 50 million people buys lottery ticket each week.

In the ‘red ocean’ of recruitment, as an agency, we have to hope against hope that that one random CV that we pull from the database eventually meanders swiftly through the maze of shortlists, interviews, offer negotiations and joining; leading to the 8.33% Event. In between that, you have competitors and in-house teams of clients racing to give you a run from their money.

Fishing for the superstars in the right pond, with the right bait; relying often upon your gut instincts is often a lot of strategy but a lot more luck.

What if the mail from the client suddenly comes – we’ve closed it internally?

What if the candidate succumbs to the pressure of the last stage interviews?

What If the candidate backs out at the offer stage?

Recruitment needs a lot of luck, right? And thus a lot of blessings from Lord Ganesha.

Indeed, it seems that in recruitment hope is a strategy, luck is a factor, and fear is an option